CHAPTER 46 : MADNESS

The eye pearl in Kyoko's hand shattered, producing a trail of light that moved in three directions, one toward Chyou and Khairul. The eye pearls in their pockets shattered simultaneously, and both of their expressions became tense. Chyou grabbed Khairul's hand, and they teleported together.At the same time, Mikael continued to follow the trail of light, launching himself like a slingshot using the black liquid that flowed from both of his palms. Khalid sped Furioswheels down the highway, with Mei gripping the handle tightly on the door of the car."Let's kill each other, Khairul!" Zaki taunted, showing his claw-like fingers."I'll kill you, old man!" Khairul shouted, swinging both black blades back with a sharp glare. He launched himself toward Zaki, the blades clashing with Zaki's claws, creating friction.Their eyes met, with anger, vengeance, and bloodlust reflected in both Mutants' gazes.Laser beams and bright light from Hazim and Nasuha headed toward Kyoko and Chyou, who both evaded the attack. Kyoko tried to reach Nasuha, but a wall of earth formed in front of her. Nur, with her body covered in hardened earth, swung her hand at Kyoko, successfully knocking her back down onto the roof.Chyou attempted to stab Syakir as he appeared behind him, but Syakir managed to dodge, the sleeve of his clothing torn from Chyou's knife. A red laser attack headed toward Chyou, but he quickly teleported away."Just a little more..." Syakir sighed when suddenly roots surrounded him like a shield."I'll protect you... Focus on them," said Lilly, who stood behind Syakir within the roots."I know, who do you think you're ordering around?" Syakir replied, but Lilly remained silent.Behind the root shield, Khairul focused all his attacks on Zaki. The blade nearly hit Zaki's head, but he ducked and delivered a powerful punch to Khairul's stomach from below."I thought I had to take care of all your friends before you had the spirit to fight back! Khairul!" Zaki shouted, causing Khairul to step back and cough slightly."But you really are... really... really insane! After everything that happened, you still want to fight me! You're such an ungrateful brat!" Zaki added."Why... Why are you doing all this? I don't understand! If you want to kill me, just do it! Why hurt others? They have nothing to do with you and me!?" Khairul questioned. Zaki smiled cynically, dragging both hands across the roof as he slowly approached Khairul."This is my existence now! I'm going to destroy everything you love, everything you have, Khairul... As long as I'm alive, I'll make your life miserable. I have no reason to live except to torment you," Zaki replied, causing Khairul's anger to grow, and he moved toward Zaki again.Zaki threw metal debris from the roof he had dragged earlier, temporarily halting Khairul, then pushed Khairul so that they both fell from the building, crashing Khairul to the ground below."Nasuha! How long are you going to sleep?! Wake up from his control! I can do it; you can too!" Kyoko shouted while dodging every attack from Nasuha."St...Star...Beam!" A large Star Beam shot toward Kyoko. She surrounded her body with lightning and entered the Star Beam. Kyoko appeared in front of Nasuha unharmed and immediately embraced her, bringing them both down together."Wake up, Nasuha." Kyoko reached for the wire at the back of Nasuha's head, but before she could pull it, Nur appeared behind her, forcing Kyoko to dodge another swing of Nur's stone arm."There are too many types of attacks coming from every direction. Laser, Star Beam, and then this rock girl... I'm too tired; it's really hard to hurt them. They're just victims right now..." Kyoko sighed to herself, as Nur gathered earth in both hands. Kyoko prepared to dodge again, but Chyou suddenly appeared and struck Nur hard on the neck.The sound of cracking bone echoed as Nur fell to the ground."Chyou?" Kyoko was shocked by Chyou's action."They're Mutants... A broken neck won't kill them... Don't waste our time... Kyoko," Chyou said, and Kyoko fell silent."Aaarghh!" Hazim released his laser attack, and Chyou teleported away from Nur, appearing next to Hazim. He struck Hazim's neck hard as well, rendering him unconscious."The control wires come from their necks... Break the neck, and the control will stop... They'll be unconscious too... Just my guess," Chyou said before teleporting to Nasuha, his expression blank, his hand swinging toward her.Memories of all the HOPE members played in Chyou's mind suddenly, during the times he spent with Khairul and Nasuha. His first friends.Chyou's hand suddenly halted, his expression turning disturbed. Nasuha's palms began to glow, and Chyou quickly teleported away from her before he could be hit by her powerful Star Beam."What's wrong with you suddenly?" Kyoko asked, noticing Chyou's hesitation."I... don't know..." Chyou's hands trembled. Kyoko looked at him before creating a bow from her lightning powers."It's not the first time I've shot Nasuha... In the Mind Dimension, during training, I hurt her. When fighting Stray Farah, I had to let my lightning hit Khairul. Nasuha... will understand." Kyoko pulled the bowstring back, creating a large lightning arrow, and Nasuha turned to her with glowing eyes.Kyoko released the arrow, and Nasuha moved her hand forward. The impact of the arrow produced thick smoke and strong winds.From the thick smoke, Nasuha's glowing eyes could be seen. After the smoke dissipated, Nasuha managed to deflect the attack with her light shield."She managed to create a shield as fast as lightning?" Kyoko wondered to herself as Nasuha raised her hand and swung it."Star Slash!" The shining, serrated stars sliced through the roof of the building, and Chyou and Kyoko narrowly avoided the attack. Nasuha swung her hand repeatedly, unleashing a barrage of Star Slashes.Exhausted, Kyoko and Chyou's powers began to slow down, causing one of the Star Slashes to hit and slice Kyoko's left leg and Chyou's right arm."Argh!" Kyoko screamed in pain as she lay weakly on the ground, and Chyou sat up, covering the wound on his severed arm. He bit his costume, tears streaming down his face from the intense pain he felt."Pathetic... You didn't have to suffer if you just submitted to me. Just listen and follow my orders. Being a soulless tool doesn't hurt at all, but you chose to fight me. I know your weaknesses... It's compassion, a soft heart. Dreaming of being a hero..." Syakir walked forward as Lilly followed behind him with her thorny roots."HOPE will fall into my hands." Wires from Syakir's hands moved toward Chyou and Kyoko, who had no strength left to fight back. Suddenly, black liquid emerged from Syakir and Lilly's shadows, binding them tightly."Dumbass. You... You think you can win against us? Hahaha... You really know nothing about HOPE. You don't know our true strength. This kid and I are not here to win but to buy time until... our strong ones arrive... You walked into a trap." Kyoko smiled confidently as Mikael landed in front of Chyou."Tch!" Syakir glared at Mikael.Khairul was deflecting every attack from Zaki, the relentless assaults forcing Khairul to focus solely on defending himself. In the distance, the sound of Furioswheels could be heard, and Zaki and Khairul leapt away from each other as Furioswheels approached, skidding to a halt on the road.Khalid and Mei exited the vehicle just as Furioswheels came to a stop, avoiding crashing into the building wall."Weapon Card! Wrath Blasters!" Khalid, wearing the Beast Tiger armor, inserted two pistol cards into his belt slot. Two pistols with tiger faces emerged in Khalid's hands, and he immediately unleashed a barrage of shots at Zaki."Keerghhh!" Zaki gritted his teeth as the bullets from the Wrath Blasters hit his body, exploding repeatedly and causing him pain and difficulty in moving. Khairul turned to Mei and Khalid, his expression shifting to relief."Khai... Sorry for being late," said Mei."It's okay. Go help up them at the top. Khalid and I can handle my father!" Khairul pleaded."Alright," Mei replied, hurrying away and entering the building where the others were fighting on the roof. Khairul turned to face Zaki again.The Wrath Blasters stopped firing, smoke pouring from both weapon triggers. Zaki quickly moved again, rushing toward Khalid, but Khairul appeared in front of him and managed to slice a bit of the left side of Zaki's face before he dodged."Everyone's come, huh?! Perfect! I'm gonna slaughter you all here!" Zaki shouted, and Khairul continued to attack him, forcing Zaki back."Weapon Change! Claw Sword!" Khalid switched his weapon to the Claw Sword and charged at Zaki from behind, injuring Zaki's back with a swing of his sword.Khairul and Khalid attacked Zaki from every direction, forcing him to only block and dodge. Over time, Zaki's cynical smile turned into a furious expression as he allowed himself to be stabbed in the stomach by Khalid to claw at Khairul's face, injuring his left eye."Arh!" Khairul stopped attacking due to that hit."Are you trying to blind your own son?!" Khalid yelled, kicking Zaki back and pointing his sword forward."Hahahahaaarghhh!" Zaki laughed, ignoring Khalid's words as he lunged at Khalid and managed to break through the Beast Tiger shield with just a swing of his hand and claws. Khalid was shocked that the attack could bypass his shield."It's just a small wound... it doesn't hurt that much," Zaki said, the stab wound in his stomach closing rapidly."I don't know what your problem is... but I'm not naive enough to let someone like you live. It's clear your objective is just to kill," Khalid replied as Zaki licked the blood off his claws."Kill me if you can!" Suddenly, Zaki attacked again, faster than Khalid, breaking through several other parts of the Beast Tiger shield. Each counterattack from Khalid also healed quickly, not stopping Zaki's ferocious assault.He finally managed to wound Khalid's side and swung his hand hard at Khalid's neck, but Khairul reappeared, stabbing Zaki's arm with both of his black blades, splitting the arm in two.Blood flowed heavily from Khairul's left eye, but he continued his attack by slicing Zaki's chest and striking his nose, causing him to stagger back with blood gushing from his nose."Argh.... You... In the end... you really are my son... It's so hard... to fall after all the pain I've inflicted on you... So hard to die..." Zaki groaned, and Khairul remained silent, staring at Zaki with a deadly gaze. Zaki's wounds began to heal rapidly, his cynical smile returning."But... you don't heal as fast as I do," Zaki said, as Khairul and Khalid stepped forward, ready to fight again.Mei finally reached the roof by climbing the building, seeing Syakir and Lilly still bound by Mikael's shadow power. She felt anxious seeing Kyoko and Chyou with their limbs severed, and rushed towards Chyou."I'm giving you a chance... to withdraw your control, and I won't kill you right now," Mikael said, and Syakir smiled slightly."Still trying to be a hero? How amusing!" Syakir retorted, as Nasuha unleashed a Star Beam at Mikael.Mikael dodged, and Lilly seized the opportunity to shoot roots repeatedly at Mikael while he was in the air."I've already given you a chance!" Two axes formed from Mikael's palms, and he spun around, cutting all the roots heading toward him. Mikael then moved toward Syakir and Lilly, ready to swing his axes.Suddenly, Nasuha flew between him and Syakir, forcing Mikael to stop his attack and move away from Nasuha."Star Slash!" Nasuha sent a Star Slash toward Mikael, who dodged the attack while transforming both axes into sickles.Lilly's roots pulled the black liquid binding her to Syakir, and she also lifted them both upward. Mikael swung the back end of his sickle's handle at Nasuha, but a light shield appeared beside Nasuha, blocking his attack."Chyou... Kyoko..." Mei looked at them worriedly."Don't... worry about us... right now... Help Mikael!" said Chyou, who was still in pain. Mei snapped back to attention and focused on Nasuha, placing her hand on her head and activating her powers, Mei's irises changing shape and turning red.Using her Psychic power, Mei entered Nasuha's mind, but she couldn't fully penetrate.Mei found herself in a dark arena illuminated only by spotlight, surrounded by numerous snakes crawling around. She looked around with a confused expression."This isn't Nasuha's Mind Dimension..." Mei sighed."Your powers are the most troublesome, but it seems I'm lucky. You don't know anything about my powers..." Syakir said, standing in front of Mei at the end of the arena. Behind Syakir were three cages containing Nasuha, Hazim, and Nur."Let us go!" Nur groaned, holding onto the bars of her cage."Where are we? What is this?" Hazim, just waking up, was immediately confused."Mei!" Nasuha called desperately, her face filled with sorrow."Nasuha... Don't worry. I'm here!" Mei replied."He... He made... me hurt... Kyoko... and Chyou... I-I'm sorry..." Nasuha pleaded, starting to cry and placing her hand on her chest."What is all this?! What have you done with my body and my brother?!" Nur shouted angrily. Syakir glanced at them for a moment before turning back to Mei."Mind Dimension... I learned about powers using Nasuha's memories. My powers and yours are almost the same, but this dimension is under my control!" Syakir said, as the snakes around began to move towards Mei."I will break your control," Mei stated, clapping her hands. The entire arena suddenly cracked and shattered, causing everyone, including the snakes, to fall into darkness."What?!" Syakir exclaimed, surprised."You only know about the Mind Dimension, but you don't understand it like I do," Mei responded, moving both her hands.Now they were in the old office where Syakir used to work."Nu-Nur?! Are you okay?" Hazim asked, turning to Nur. They were still inside their cages."Yes... I'm okay... I'm okay..." Nur said, holding her head."Still stuck here, Syakir?" Mei asked, with Syakir glaring at her."You maybe can control this Mind Dimension, but my control is stronger than yours..." Syakir replied, both of his eyes suddenly glowing red. He released a laser beam towards Mei, but she caught the laser, gathered it, and shot it back at Syakir.Syakir raised a wall of earth that deflected the entire laser attack. He then flew into the air, both of his eyes glowing."Star Beam!" Syakir unleashed a Star Beam at Mei.Mei swung her hand, causing all the items in the office to fly around, but the Star Beam penetrated through the items blocking Mei."My power?" Nasuha was confused about how Syakir could use her Ms. Star powers.Suddenly, Mei appeared above Syakir, grabbing onto a flying monitor, and she struck him hard. The entire Mind Dimension cracked and then shattered like glass. Now they were all on the rooftop of Syakir's office building, and he was falling from it.Syakir quickly regained control and flew using Ms. Star's powers."Let them go, Syakir..." Mei suddenly appeared again, forcing Syakir downward until his head was beneath her feet."Y-You!" Syakir shouted angrily."You can't win," Mei said coldly.